Articles by: Claire Loughnan

Author Biography:

Claire Loughnan is a Lecturer in Criminology, at the University of Melbourne, researching immigration detention and border protection. She is currently writing a book on the institutional effects of immigration detention, and editing a collection of articles by Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani. Dr Loughnan is a University of Melbourne co-convenor of Academics for Refugees, research partner with the Comparative Network on Refugee Externalisation Policies and a member of the OPCAT (Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture) Australia Network.

Informit: ‘Not the Hilton’

The Australian government has had significant success in stemming the spread of COVID-19. Aside from lockdowns of schools and many businesses, border closures, and limits on movement within the community, it introduced quarantine measures for returned travellers that initially helped to stem the spread of the virus. In late March 2020 it announced that all those arriving at Australian airports and docks from overseas should self-isolate for fourteen days. As evidence emerged of returned travellers…

‘Not the Hilton’: ‘Vernacular violence’ in COVID-19 quarantine and detention hotels

The responses of returned travellers to their time in quarantine have rendered visible what has, for most of the Australian community, remained out of sight for many decades. …the experience of what being detained feels and looks like has been brought to light by media and social-media stories.

Refugees and Australia’s double standards on COVID-19

Why has the Australian government failed to apply the principles and standards of health protection that are upheld in the wider community to places of detention?